Palestinian threat to Oslo accords over Israeli settlements

UNWILLING TO return to negotiations until Israel halts settlement construction in the West Bank, the Palestinians have suggested they could abrogate the Oslo accords, the basis of the peace process.

“We can’t remain committed to the agreements that were signed with Israel forever,” Yasser Abed Rabbo, secretary general of the Palestine Liberation Organisation and adviser to Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, said.

“One party can’t remain committed while the other party has violated the agreements and even cancelled them.”

Under the Oslo accords, signed in 1993, the Palestinians were empowered to establish a temporary administration (a Palestinian Authority) for the West Bank and Gaza while Israel redeployed its forces from the territories and the sides negotiated the final status of Jerusalem, Palestinian refugees, Israeli settlements, and resources.

Palestinians expected staged Israeli withdrawal to the border of 1967 and the evacuation of most Israeli settlers. Instead, Israel has expanded the settler presence, retained full control in 59 per cent of the West Bank and continued to exercise security control in Palestinian population centres administered by the Palestinian Authority.

Abrogation of the Oslo accords would automatically revoke Palestinian recognition of Israel and dissolve the authority. Responsibility for the governance and well-being of the Palestinian population in the West Bank and Gaza would revert to Israel.

Proponents of this idea argue that Israel would be compelled to abide by international law when dealing with the Palestinian populace although Israel has always refused to apply international law to the occupied territories on the ground the Palestinians did not have sovereignty when the land was conquered.

If negotiations do not resume or fail, the Palestinians also say they will propose that the UN Security Council and the US recognise a Palestinian state in the territories occupied by Israel in 1967.

Such recognition would define the 1948-49 ceasefire line, known as the “Green Line,” as the border between Israel and the Palestinian state. Since this would leave half a million Israeli settlers in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, it is highly unlikely that the council would accept this challenge.

An Israeli official dismissed Mr Abed Rabbo’s threat.

“We hear these sorts of things now and again . . . that Abbas will resign, they are going to dismantle the [Palestinian] authority, that they are going to take everything to the UN, that they are going to give up on the two-state solution, but it is not serious. Everyone understands that the only way to achieve peace is through direct negotiations.”